Marina Hegering’s star in the national team rose late. However, the 33-year-old footballer will not extend her active time, she has had her sights set on her career as a coach for some time.
By Florian Neuhauss and Matthias Dröge
When asked whether her plans had changed given the rapid development in women’s football, Hegering only had to think for a moment. “No, they’re still standing,” she says and smiles. When the change in defense chief of the German national team from FC Bayern to VfL Wolfsburg was announced last year, the end of his career was also regulated: After the 2023/2024 season, the veteran should switch to the coaching team of the “Wolves”. And it stays that way.
Once celebrated as Germany’s greatest talent
“I’ve actually been enjoying the fact that I’ve been able to be a professional soccer player for two years,” emphasizes Hegering, who already has the first coaching licenses in her pocket. However, the enjoyment of being a professional has at best something to do with the approaching end of the time as an active person. Until 2020 – she played in Duisburg, Leverkusen and Essen – the defensive specialist still had to work on the side.
I’ve actually been enjoying the fact that I’ve been able to be a professional soccer player for the past two years.
National player Marina Hegering
This in turn also has to do with their bad luck with injuries. Because actually someone like her should have had a great career early on. Hegering belonged to the golden generation of youngsters – with the U20 national team she won the World Cup in her own country in 2010 alongside Alexandra Popp.
Hegering has always been part of the U national teams since the U15s. At the age of 16, she had already celebrated her Bundesliga debut at FCR Duisburg and was awarded the Fritz Walter medal in gold as the best young player in 2009 – ahead of Popp, who received silver.
181 Bundesliga games have been recorded for Hegering to date. Significantly more than many of her fellow players, but actually not enough for a woman in her class. However, her career is also a long history of injuries that has prevented more appearances.
Debut in the senior national team at the age of 28
The fact that Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, who was Hegering’s first adult coach in Duisburg and won the cup twice and the precursor to the Champions League once with her, called her former player for the senior national team in 2019 was unexpected – even for Hegering himself.
Especially since the debut in April at the age of 28 was followed only a few months later by the first games at the World Cup. “I was very excited because it all came as a bit of a surprise to me,” recalls the Münsterland native.
She started all five World Cup games, but like her teammates, she wasn’t entirely convincing. “I didn’t really know where I had to find myself, even within the team. That was somehow totally virginal.” In the quarterfinals against Sweden (1:2) it was over.
Hegering: “The EM had a blatant effect”
But the career of the latecomer really picked up speed. In 2020 he switched to Bayern Munich. And she finally turned pro. “It was a completely new step for me, a completely different experience,” she says. Two years later we went to Wolfsburg. And then there was also the EM in England 2022, where Germany advanced to the final because of an extremely strong Hegering and caused a boom in women’s football.
Hegering, who is actually so experienced, is amazed: “The EM showed a blatant effect, and it actually lasted throughout the year. The interest of the fans somehow didn’t decrease at all, so it really was the case that it stayed the same continuously.”
The pressure to succeed at the World Cup should not inhibit you
Before the EM, Hegering had been injured again. MVT still put all their hopes in their leader, who got fit just in time for the start of the tournament. In the end, the confidence of the national coach was a success factor. With a view to the upcoming World Cup, Hegering explains: “This time I took part in all the preparation. That’s why I’m just happy to be there.”
The calm and serenity that characterizes them in the game is also good for the team off the pitch. The pressure to succeed is definitely there in Australia: “We are Germany, we have a good team and we want to get the maximum out of it. But that shouldn’t stop us in any way.”
The farewell “is a bit far in the back of my mind”
Hegering appreciates the fact that she is playing her last major tournament in Australia. “This is a country that you really only know from TV,” says the 33-year-old, who hopes to see kangaroos and koalas “down under”.
Her departure is “already a bit in the back of her mind”, but the success with the team is above all. “I’m just looking forward to everything I can experience now. Definitely. But I don’t approach it any differently in terms of emotions.”
And even if it should work out with the 46.5 centimeters high and five kilogram World Cup trophy, Hegering sees herself and her team well prepared. “We’re doing a lot in the gym, so I think everyone can lift the five kilos properly,” she says, smiling again and adding: “That’s exactly what we’ll do everything for.” There is no doubt about that either.